An eco-geek's foray into backyard beekeeping

Gentle Package Installation

At least 50 people were lined up outside Corky's house to pick up their packages of bees. It was so inspiring to be around that many backyard beekeepers, many of them beginning their first hives.

When a sunny spring day lands on Earth Day, what better way to celebrate than by setting up hives and installing bees? Since I couldn’t think of one, that’s just what I did! I now have two hives in the backyard.

The hive on the left I decided to call Themyscira, the legendary home of the Amazons (at least according to DC Comics), including one Diana of Themyscira aka Wonder Woman. Since these bees are wonder women to me, I figured Themyscira would be a good home to them. I’m calling the queen in this hive Diana, of course.

Diana of Themyscira, Queen of the Hive!

Themyscira is going to be a bit of an experimental hive. I am feeding it honey instead of sugar water and seeing what effect, if any, that has on the health of the hive. I bought honey from the local coop, so I don’t know the bees that produced it. This could prove to be problematic since it is possible that I have just imported disease spores and other maladies into the hive.

However, I feel weird about feeding sugar to bees as I just can’t see how it would be good for them. In humans, sugar can cause all manner of unhealthiness and microbial imbalance so I can’t see how it is healthy for bees. As I am learning, the hive needs to be strong in order to balance bacteria, fungus, virus and other microbes and remain strong. In humans, if the intestinal flora is out of balance, you can see thrush, infection and other disease. It seems intuitive to me that this would be the same in a hive.

When my children were infants, I chose to exclusively breastfeed them, since human milk is best for human babies whenever possible. In a hive, sugar water is like formula. Better than starving to death and good in emergencies, but whenever possible, honey, pollen and nectar are best. So, Themyscira is feeding on Northwest-produced honey that hopefully harbors no disease.

Queen Laura of Galactica

The hive on the right has been christened Galactica after our favorite sci-fi series in recent years. The Battlestar Galactica survived the Cylon attack because it wasn’t full of modern technology and relied on analog equipment. Since I am trying natural/biological beekeeping, I thought a nod to the Galactica would be appropriate. That queen will be called Laura (though Dave might prefer Model 5). As the “control hive” Galactica is getting sugar water.

At the Seattle Biological Beekeepers meeting a couple of weeks ago, I learned about a gentle package installation method which I tried yesterday. It went really well, though it was a slow process and probably would have had less success on a cold day.

The technique was simple: no smoker, no sprayer, no shaking. I made a ramp from the ground to the hive with a piece of scrap plywood.

Plywood ramp

Then, I slowly raised the sugar water can to remove the queen cage. The cage was covered in worker bees, which I gently brushed into the hive. Then I placed the queen cage on a center frame and duct-taped it into place.

Queen placed into the hive.

I carried the package to the ramp, rested it on the bottom of the ramp and removed the sugar water can. I brushed as many bees as I could into the hive from the bottom of the can. Then I placed the lid on top and set the sugar water can over the hole in the lid. I wet a cloth with honey water and painted a stripe of the honey water leading from the package to the entrance of the hive. Then I left the bees alone.

Bees wonder what the heck is going on.

At first there was a whole lot of flying around. The bees were clearly confused and disoriented. Finally a few bees followed the honey water trail to the hive entrance and disappeared into it. Once I saw that happen I went inside for lunch. I checked the bees every half hour or so. It was midday and warm, so lots of bees were still flying about. By two hours, more were starting to enter the hive. By three hours, there was a single-file line of bees marching from the package to the hive.

Bees march up the ramp into their new home.

By four hours everyone was inside and I removed the package.

The second package went a bit faster, probably because it was later in the day making the bees a bit more motivated to get inside for the night. By the two hour mark, they were all settled in except for one stubborn clump of bees that was still hanging out in the package. I saw at least a dozen bees on the outside of the package working on explaining the situation to those bees. They were gone this morning, so I am assuming the holdouts made it in before dark.

The installation process was really smooth, which gave me a spark of confidence as a new beekeeper. I’m sure that feeling won’t last long, but I was glad that the bees and I were able to start gently.

I am also glad for the little helper who materialized to assist with the second package installation. Within five minutes he had conquered his nervousness and was handling the package on his own. The littlest one made it plain that she is not about to be left out, so it looks like I will need a third bee jacket pronto!